BABY NAMES OF THE PACIFIC AND ASIA

First of all, when I say "names of
the Pacific," I mean my part of the Pacific, the Guam part, and its surroundings.
Most of the indigenous languages around here belong to the Austronesian
family, which includes Malay, the Indonesian languages, the Chamoru language
of Guam, the Polynesian languages like Hawaiian, and so on.

Other important languages in the area
include Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese in the western Pacific,
and Arabic and Sanskrit-derived languages in the South Pacific. Of course,
there are also European and American-derived names in the area (they're
the most common around here, actually), but you don't need me to tell you
about them!

For this first installment, let me
tell you about names from the sea. This discussion will not include sea
creatures -- we'll cover those some other time.

When I teach my geology classes at
the University of Guam, I like to ask my students why we don't have rock
salt and rock gypsum here on Guam. What they should answer (and usually
do) is that we don't have these rocks because Guam is too humid for the
massive evaporation of the sea necessary to make these rocks. But once
in awhile, a student will reply that we don't have rock salt and rock gypsum
on Guam because these rocks come from the ocean, and we don't have that
on Guam. And then I walk the student to the window and point out and say,
"You see that big blue thing out there...?"

Once, during a field trip to the beach,
a student pointed out to sea and asked, "Is that the ocean?" (No, my poor
dear, that's the Mississippi River; it gets very wide in places...)

However, MOST people living out here
are very much aware of the ocean. The pre-modern people depended on it
absolutely. Therefore, it is not surprising that many names from this region
commemorate the sea.

One of the most popular of the Chamoru
names used on Guam today is Tasi, a pretty name meaning "sea, ocean."
It is used for girls now, but three males were recorded using the name
in a 1728 census, and two males and a female in a 1759 census. That's a
pretty good showing for a name in those days, because Chamoru names were
originally highly individualized (more about that later). We also find,
in the old census records, Actassi (m), which means something like
"share the sea," Cadassi (m) "to have something of the sea" (one
individual each), Tasiña (two females and one male) "her
(or his) sea," and then there's the modern Chubasca (f) "storm at
sea." We also find Inapo (modern, male) "the wave" and Napo
(modern, male) "wave" and the old Chamoru Napoña (m) "his
wave." And there's the old Chamoru Layacña (2 males and 1
female) "his (or her) sail."

These names are all basically upbeat.
But those 18th Century census records also contain a long list of depressing
names. During the the early 18th Century, the Chamoru people were almost
wiped out by warfare with the Spanish and by European diseases. There are
stories of mothers killing their babies so they wouldn't have to grow up
to be slaves of the Spaniards. Because so many Chamorus fled Guam in their
canoes, the Spanish initiated a policy forbidding the Chamorus access to
the sea. A great many names recorded in the census records reflect the
suffering of the people. They are one-word essays, speaking of anguish:

Taitasi (5 females) "no sea"

Tadtasi (1 male, 2 females)
"having no sea"

Tailayag (1 male) "no sail"

More will be said about this category
of names later.

Other Pacific peoples are also fond
of oceanic names. We have Kai from Hawaii; this name takes the form
of Tai in Maori, and Nokuoru and Day in Yapese. It resembles
Hai
in Chinese and Vietnamese, and Hae in Korean. All of these names
mean "ocean, sea," and all are unisex names. In Samoan, Tai means
"tide." In Japanese, Hiromu and Hiroshi are male names that
can refer to the sea if the right kanji are used.

In Hawaii, Kai is combined with other
elements to make more ocean names: Aliikai "queen of the sea," Kaikala
"the sea and the sun," Kailani "sea and sky," Kaimana "divine
power of the sea," and Kaiolohia "calm sea." There are bound to
be more, but these are the ones I've found in use, and the spellings shown,
which may not reflect correct Hawaiian orthography, are the actual spellings
used. (There are also a great many spelling variations I haven't shown
you!) Hawaiian names are traditionally unisex, but here on Guam, Hawaiian
names are mostly used for girls.

South of Guam we have the Federated
States of Micronesia, a large collection of atolls and volcanic islands
loosely grouped into four states. From Chuuk (formerly known as Truk),
we have Atiniui (m) "man of the sea," Eponu (m) "he is a
navigator," Nounpotu (m) "child of a navigator," Simiram
(m) "sun shining on the water, " and Wani (m) "their boat, your
boat." From Yap we have Mathow (m) "the deep sea," and Nug
(m) "net."